National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the recent death of an endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Molokai as a deliberate killing.

An adult male monk seal was discovered dead on Monday, southeast of Kaunakakai, said David Schofield, with NOAA’s Pacific Island Regional Office’s marine mammal response program.
A necropsy of the seal on Tuesday determined that it had been killed intentionally, Schofield said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has jurisdiction for enforcing the Endangered Species Act for ocean mammals, is not releasing details about how the seal was killed, to aid with its investigation, Schofield said.
Anyone with information about the seal’s death is encouraged to call NOAA’s 24-hour enforcement hot line at 800-853-1964.
The seal was a known resident of Molokai and considered by scientists to be in his 20s, robust and in good health, Schofield said. The animal was easily identifiable by the fact one of his rear flippers was amputated sometime prior to 2005.
Molokai resident Leimana Naki told George Peabody of the Molokai Advertiser-News that he found the carcass outside the reef breakers and towed it to shore with his kayak.
The Honolulu Advertiser wasn’t able to reach Naki for comment.
This year on Kauai, two Hawaiian monk seals have been deliberately killed, alarming conservationists who are working hard to preserve the rare seals, which are found only in Hawaii. The wild population of the seals is 1,200 or less and dropping 4 percent a year.
One of the Kauai seal-killing cases was solved when 78-year-old Charles Vidinha pleaded guilty to shooting at a pregnant female monk seal on
Kauai’s Milolii Beach in May, killing her and her unborn pup.
Vidinha was sentenced to a 90-day term in federal prison and fined $25. The lightness of the sentence angered many, since the potential fine for killing an endangered species is up to $50,000. Vidinha alleged he didn’t mean to kill the seal, just scare it away.
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement recently offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed a 5-year-old male seal on Kauai’s west side in April. The Kauai Surfrider
chapter has offered another $3,000 reward in that case.
Schofield said Wednesday he’s not aware of any leads generated by the rewards so far.